This invention relates generally to a burner assembly and, more particularly, to an improved burner assembly which operates in a manner to reduce the formation of nitrogen oxides as a result of fuel combustion.
In a typical arrangement for burning coal in a furnace section of a reactor, vapor generator, or the like, several burners are disposed in communication with the interior of the furnace and operate to burn a mixture of air and pulverized coal. The burners used in these arrangements are generally of the type in which a fuel/air mixture is continuously injected through a nozzle so as to form a single relatively large flame. As a result, the surface area of the flame is relatively small in comparison to its volume, and therefore the average flame temperature is relatively high. However, when the fuel portion of the fuel/air mixture is in its form of pulverized coal, nitrogen oxides are formed by the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen available in the combustion supporting air, which is a function of the flame temperature. When the flame temperature exceeds 2800.degree. F., the amount of fixed nitrogen removed from the combustion supporting air rises exponentially with increases in the temperature. This condition leads to the production of high levels of nitrogen oxides in the final combustion products, which cause severe air pollution problems. Nitrogen oxides are also formed from the nitrogen available in the coal itself, which is not a direct function of the flame temperature, but is related to the quantity of available oxygen during the combustion process.
In view of the foregoing, attempts have been made to suppress the flame temperatures and reduce the quantity of available oxygen during the combustion process and thus reduce the formation of nitrogen oxides. Attempted solutions have included techniques involving two stage combustion, flue gas recirculation, the introduction of an oxygen-deficient fuel/air mixture to the burner, and the breaking up of a single large flame into a plurality of smaller flames. However, although these attempts singularly may produce some beneficial results, and in some cases yield significant NOx reductions, further reductions of nitrogen oxides are obtainabl.